What is thought to be the nation’s – and possibly the world’s – first virtual timed sale, with real-time viewing of working sheep dogs, is scheduled to take place at Skipton Auction Mart, from Sunday to Friday, July 12-17.

With Covid-19 social distancing restrictions remaining in place, live working sheep dog sales are unable to take place, but the North Yorkshire mart is well advanced with plans to run the online initiative over a six-day period.

Following the forced cancellation of the spring sale last month, Skipton Auction Mart’s general manager, Jeremy Eaton, said: “We propose to create a virtual sale following the form of conventional timed auctions, but introducing a semi-social element via pre-sale conference viewing the evening before each sale.”

The fixture will feature standalone viewing and sale days for entries from three separate countries – Scotland, England and Wales.

These, it is hoped, will also be supplemented by two further standalone All-Ireland and European viewing and sale days, doubly dependant on both entry levels and access to transport facilities with the hoped-for resumption of freight crossings.

A final closing date for all entries has been set for Tuesday, June 16, to be followed by pre-sale video catalogue viewing via the working sheep dog section of the mart’s www.ccmauctions.com website from Monday, June 29.

Vendors will be available for live conference viewing with Q and A sessions and live demos of individual entries.

On each sale day, there will be a 12-hour window between 11am and 11pm for online bidding, with an inbuilt click-on bidding facility for potential purchasers.

The schedule would open with the viewing and sale of Scottish entries on July 12/13, followed by England on July 13/14, Wales July 14/15, All-Ireland July 15/16 and European July 16/17.

In the interim, all entrants will be responsible for producing and submitting videos no later than Tuesday, June 23, showing individual dogs being put through their paces.

“It is important that videos are submitted in the correct format, with some simple minimum requirements to prove an entry’s authenticity against the dog shown working. We don’t want to have to reject entries if the videos are not in the required format,” said Mr Eaton.